Sadly, as a songwriter you sooner or later finish developing your musical understanding.

You find your preferred resolutions and harmonic intervals and what-have-yous, and then you either keep writing the same thing until everybody is as bored with your songs as you are, or you try with all your might to get out of those patterns. This is what a lot of the work is all about.

I think this insatiable need to get to know new music is a big part of why it has lasted so long.

We've known each other [in Motorpsycho ] since 1985 or '86, are really different as personalities, and yet have actually never disagreed to any degree. We are really complimentary as musicians and songwriters too, and come from two total opposites in our approaches.

I always have problems with seeing how our new stuff relates to our old stuff - I'm better at seeing long lines in other people's music than in my own.

Generally there are always a few things that get left off for some reason or other, although the criteria for inclusion vary from project to project.

We sometimes feel like hamsters on a wheel, covering the same musical ground we did 20 or more years ago.